Teach Me How To Love
by NerdWrites
Summary: Alison leads a dull, on schedule life, always feeling like something is missing, something exciting, working as the head of English at rosewood high, Alison gets the wake up call of a life time when new gym and swim Coach Emily Fields sneaks her way into her life. Slow Burn Emison with friendships including all other liars and some other characters. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

It was a rainy Monday morning when Alison was awoken from her slumber. She had exactly an hour before she had to leave for work. She would spend exactly 15 in the shower, 25 minutes getting dressed, 10 minutes eating breakfast and the last 10 minutes  
checking she had everything she needed before heading out the door and making her way to her job. Alison was the Head of English at Rosewood High School, so sure, she loved her job, she had a pretty normal life, but she couldn't remember the last  
time she did anything spontaneous. Again she didn't mind this, she was a fan of order and organisation, but she couldn't help the niggling feeling that something was missing for her life. She now though, as usual, she chose to ignore it as she  
entered the school and made her way to the staff room. It was the start of a new year at Rosewood High, this meant staff meetings every day this week to ensure everyone as getting settled back into their jobs.

"Hey Ali! Wait up!" Alison heard from behind her as she was walking down the currently empty school halls she turned around and saw her colleague and best friend running after her. She stopped and waited for her to catch up.

"Hey Spence, looking forward to our first day back on the job?" Alison said as Spencer started walking by her side.

"Yeah I am actually, I completely reworked the curriculum from last years stuff, but then again you already know that so I'll just go with yes I'm excited!" Spencer quickly. Alison just laughed happily at her best friends excitement, Spencer had  
always been extremely academic, both her and Alison had been in competition for highest the grades going through school, eventually Spencer won when Alison decided she didn't want to completely write of her social life because of school. Now she's  
Vice Principle at Rosewood High, she heads the schools clubs community and she teaches politics. So she her to particularly ecstatic about the school year starting again was nothing new to Alison.

Once they made it into the staff room they clocked their other two friends straight away. Aria, who was head of Art, was sat down at the meeting table next to Hanna, who taught Fashion Art. The two had become extremely close since Hanna joined the art  
department. Alison and Spencer made their way over to the other two girls and sat down next to them.

"Hanna, Aria, hey! How were your summers?" Alison asked the two girls as she sat down. Just as Hanna was about to answer, two more people entered the room gaining her attention. One of them was the schools headteacher, principle Hackett. Alison looked  
passed the older man to see who the other person was, she didn't look familiar to Alison, but for whatever reason, she couldn't take her eyes off her. She was tall, athletic looking with long brown hair and caramel skin. Alison continued to look the  
girl up and down until she made eye contact with her, her eyes were a golden brown colour. It was then that Alison realised she was starring and before she could look away she could feel the blush rising up her neck. She didn't know if this mystery  
person has caught onto it, but she knew someone had. While Aria and Hanna had continued there conversation, Spencer had been watching Alison from the side, and was now wearing a teasing and slightly shocked looking smirk across her face.

Alison tried to avoid her eye contact, continuing to look down and try to figure out what she was going to say when Spencer inevitably asked her what was up later that day. Honestly she had no idea. I mean sure, everyone in the room can probably see how  
attractive this girl is, but it was like she got completely drawn into her just from her presence. Luckily, before Alison allowed her thoughts to go completely haywire, principle Hackett cleared his throat and gathered the attention of the entire  
room, again, luckily, forcing Spencer's eyes off of her and onto the task at hand.

"Good morning every body, welcome back to Rosewood High for what I'm sure will be another successful year of education." The principle started he continued on talking about policies and courses for the next 10 minutes or so, Alison allowed herself to  
zone out again a little, having heard all this the previous few years she'd been at the school. She felt eyes on her as she sat there in silence, looking up she saw the mystery girl just looking at her curiously, no shame, a little amusement, and  
a little smug gracing her features. Alison had never been one to back down from any kind of battle, even silent staring battles with strangers, so instead of backing out and looking away again, she maintained eye contact with the girl, raising her  
eyebrow a little to look a little more in control. They stayed like this for what must have been a few minutes at least, because finally the principle was coming to the end of his beginning of year speach...

"Oh and one last thing, I would like to introduce you all to the newest member of our team, Emily Fields! Stand up for us Emily!" The principle said and the mystery girl was no longer a mystery, well she was, but at least that mystery had a name now.  
For some reason Alison felt herself becoming taken in by Emily, she found her presence interesting, she had a sudden impulse to get to know her. This was completely out of character for Alison's pretty dull and perfectly timed life, but she wanted  
to find out why she was feeling like this all of a sudden.

All these thoughts sped through Alison's mind in a heartbeat, she looked up at the now stood up Emily Fields to see her still staring at her from the corner of her eye with a now even more smug look on her face as she continued to watch Alison's thought  
process on her face. She tried not to draw to much attention to herself, she was the new girl after all, but she knew one way or another she was going to get to the bottom of whatever this blonde haired teacher was thinking.

"Emily will be replacing Paige as head of gym, she will also be coaching the swim team. So, let's do everything we can to make her feel welcome, OK?" The principle finally finished, Emily sat back down and began chatting away to one of the other gym coaches,  
making sure to send a side eye to Alison every once in awhile.

On the other side of the table, Alison was looking anywhere but in the direction of then apparently distracting brunette, which again, did not go missed by Spencer.

"What is up with you?" Spencer whispered loader that probably necessary, Alison turned her head and look at Spencer like a deer in the headlights. Instead of getting worked up though she decided to try and play it at least some what cool.

"I don't know what you're talking about Spence, your coffee addiction must be causing you to hallucinate again" Alison replied nonchalantly before digging her phone out of her pocket and focusing her attention on that.

"Don't give me that crap Alison, do you think I didn't notice the blush that basically devoured your entire being when the Emily caught you staring at her?" Just the mention of Emily's name caused Alison's body to react in a weird way again, and because  
she couldn't form a reply, she was once again thankful for principle Hackett's perfectly timed interruptions

"Ok, everyone, first lesson starts in 15 minutes, so go back your way to your classrooms and enjoy your first day back!" With that everyone stood up, and started to file out of the staff room, Alison tried to get out first to both avoid any further conversation  
with Spencer and avoid any contact with Emily. Unfortunately for her as she pulled her bag up over her shoulder, she did so with such force that she managed to tear one of her bags straps, causing the contents of it to drop onto the floor. As she  
knelt down on gone floor cursing herself, she noticed the presence of someone else who had started to help her with her belongings. She made a quick assumption on who it was.

"Spence, i swear to god, if you make another smart comment right now, our 21 year friendship is over."

"Well can't make any promises for other people, but I should warm you, smart comments are kind of my thing" replied a voice that very clearly wasn't Spencer's, or Aria's, or Hanna's, or anyone else's she knew. Emily. Alison's movements froze as she looked  
up to see the brunette smiling down across at her as she continued to help gather Alison's things. She looked up once she realised Alison had stopped moving.

"Am I just going to finishing this on my own or...?" Emily asked, amused the blondes sudden change of behaviour.

"What? Oh, uh, no, sorry, uh, thank you for helping, Emily right?" Alison knew damn well what her name was, but after the previously failed attempt to form a sentence she didn't to sound anymore ridiculous that she already did. To top it all, she'd seen  
Spencer waiting for her by the door, thoroughly amused by the whole situation.

"That's me, well, it looks like my work here is done, you're welcome...?" Emily said as she rose to her feet again and offered a hand to help Alison up which was gratefully accepted.

"Uh Alison, my names Alison." The blonde replied, still stumbling over her words as she started to shake Emily's hand having not let it go after she helped her up.

"Are you sure? You don't sound too sure" Emily said in a joking mannor, probably trying to lighten the mood but ended up making Alison even more embarrassed than she already was. Feeling a little sorry for the girl she decided to just leave her to it.  
Letting go of Alison's hand she said her goodbyes.

"Well Alison, I'm sure I'll see you around, enjoy your first day back" and with a quick wink she stepped pasted Alison and proceeded to leave the room. Alison was left a little what she could only imagine was star struck. She had to snap herself back  
into reality before making her way out of the room, noting that Spencer was, still, standing at the doorway with a smile so smug that Alison surprised it hadn't gotten off her face and walked over to Alison herself and laughed in her face.

"Don't talk, we, are not talking" Alison said as she walked past Spencer as fast as she could, finally makers her way to her classroom

"Alison, if you think we are not talking about this, you are so wrong!" Spencer shouted down the corridor as she made her way to her own class. Alison just ignored her. Strutting down the corridor fiercer than usual. Something had been sparked within  
her this morning, she didn't know what it was, but today, for the first time in a long a time, she actually felt something different.

So, there we go! Chapter one complete! I was mainly trying to make sure characters and settings were established in this chapter, it'll get a lot more interesting as time goes by, if y'all want more that is!

Review, be brutal, show some love, etc, all much appreciated. Not sure when the next update will be, I've started writing it, but will wait for your feedback before continuing properly!

Apologies for any grammar mistakes, please let me know if ther are any!

Until next time! NerdWrites x


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of Alison's day was moving along with mostly normality, that being said it was only just coming up to lunch time and honestly she has been dreading this since the events of this morning took place. She had no doubt that Spencer would use this  
as the perfect opportunity to grill her about this morning, she debated not going to lunch at all but she wasn't stupid, she knew her absence would make her even more suspicious, so as the bell rang and the students in her class left the room, she  
picked up her bag and made her way back to the staff room to meet her friends for lunch. She stopped outside the door before entering to compose herself, the only way she a as going to get Spencer to drop the questioning was to just act like nothing  
was wrong. Honestly she couldn't even say something was wrong, she thought something was, but she didn't know what, or why, so with one last deep breath she crossed the barrier between the hall way and the staff room and immediately regretted her  
decision to even leave her classroom she lunch.

"Hey Ali over here!" Spencer called, if there was ever a chance to get out of what was about to happen, Alison was pretty sure it was long gone. She tried her best not to glare at her best friend, she didn't want to act suspicious as she joined the group  
of girls also consisting of Aria, Hanna and of course, Emily, however she couldn't help the inevitable 'resting bitch face' she currently sporting as she made her ways to the table thinking of a million and one ways she was going to get Spencer  
back for this.

"Ali, hey, you ok? You don't look so good" Aria said as Alison took the last seat at the table with the four girls.

"Oh I'm fine, just a little tired, readjusting to the school schedule again and that. So, what are we talking about?" Alison asked as casually as possible. She knew she should have come up with a better excuse, her friends knew her well enough to know  
she had been preparing for school to start up again for ages, either way, none of them pushed her for anymore information, instead choosing to answer her question.

"We're just getting to know Emily a little better, it's been ages since we've had a staffing change, it's nice to have a fresh face around the place" Aria replied, apparently oblivious to the silent battle that was now going on between Alison and Spencer.

"Yeah, plus Emily's already a hit with the majority of the school, hardly surprising really, I mean look at you... That being said I'm not sure I want to go through another class with everyone talking about how they'd rather see you out of that swim suit  
than in it!" Hanna said laughing, causing the rest of the table to laugh, everyone but Alison, who nearly ended up coughing her drink up, again gaining her friends attention.

"Are you sure you're ok Ali?" Aria asked again

"Yes, yep, fine, just went down the wrong way!" Alison replied, catching her breath and trying to keep any scrap of confidence she had left in tact. The only way she was going to get away with her current situation was by talking to Emily directly, maybe  
then her friends wouldn't ask any questions. So she continued to talk..

"So, Emily, how long have you been swimming?" Alison asked

"Uh, longer than I've been walking probably" Emily joked at first before getting more into her background "professionally though? About 12 years. I was anchor for my schools swim team, got a full scholarship through college to compete, unfortunately though  
I hurt my shoulder shortly after I left, I can swim again now, but it'll never be strong enough for me to compete again, so I decided to focus on coaching people who were as passionate as me about competing and well here I am. I just recently moved  
into rosewood, this is my first teaching job after having to take a break for a while, so it's good to be back into it." Emily finished. She looked up from her lunch and saw she had the attention of all four of the other girls, as she looked around  
she looked at Alison who was eyeing her curiously, she didn't know why, it was like Alison was trying to figure her out.

Emily was always careful about the people she really let into her life, after the events that caused her to have to take a break from coaching, she didn't have much trust left for people on a personal level, but she'd be lying is she said she wasn't curious  
about the blonde who was eyeing her curiously across the table.

Alison was equally curious about Emily, but not for the same reasons, she was curious about how she could have such passion about something. Sure, Alison loved her job, she had a good life, but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't lacking passion and  
excitement. She could tell Emily was trying to figure her out, she knew she had been caught staring again, she knew her friends were probably going to question her later, but she had the sudden urge to befriend the brunette, maybe learn a few things  
about herself along the way. She could tell Emily had lived a very different life than she had just from looking at her, she looked like she'd had a greater life experience than any of the other four girls around the table, who had never really made  
it out of Rosewood.

The next thing she did shocked everyone at the table, especially herself and especially Emily considering there earlier introduction. Luckily for her the bell was about to go signalling the end of lunch so what she was about to do would go go unquestioned,  
for now at least. As she got up and gathered her things to go back to her class, she pulled a slip of paper out of her bag and wrote her number on it before handing it to Emily. Without saying a word she just got up and left.

Alison knew she would have to answer to her friends later, her actions were completely random, random was something she just didn't do, on top of that they were border lining on freaky, she doubted she'd ever hear from Emily, I mean why would she? Who  
does what she just did? Weirdos, that's who. As she walked towards her classroom the regret started pouring into her mind. She knew she'd be good for nothing for her last classes of the day if she kept thinking about it so for now, she just put it  
to one side and tried not to let it eat away at her too much. At the end of the day, she would just go home back to her normal life and try two forget anything happened today, while trying to come up with an excuse for her friends as to why it did  
happen. She has some hope that maybe Emily would contact her, even if it was just to say hi. She didn't really know what she wanted from Emily, she just wanted something different in her life and for a split second she thought maybe Emily would provide  
her with that, she had no doubt Emily would bring something to her life, if she'd taken the time to get to know her like a normal human being, but impulse took over for the first time in a long time she couldn't control her actions, maybe Emily already  
bought out something different in her, all Alison knew was that if she would let her, she wanted to explore just how different her life could become.

When Alison got home that evening she just wanted curl up in a ball she forget about today, her phone had been going off for the last half an hour, either Hanna, Aria or Spencer trying to get hold of her. She'd been home for about 3 hours when a message  
came through from an unknown number...

'Uh hey, it's Emily'

So, here we go, chapter two...

I know y'all will say it so don't worry, teasing Spencer has not gone, I just wanted this chapter to be more about Emily and Alison forming some kind of connection. I know it was a weird one, but I promise it'll all make sense as we go through the story.

I'm going to be spending the next few days finishing the next chapter, so that'll be out some time towards the end of the week or beginning of next week. Also thank you all for your reviews on my previous chapter!

As always, review and stuff, much appreciated

Until next time - NerdWrites x


	3. Chapter 3

Alison sat there staring down at her phone, she'd wanted to forget about the whole old today, not face the consequences of it, not right now anyway. She couldn't quite believe that Emily had text her, maybe she was in trouble, maybe Alison was just the  
only contact she had around Rosewood, after all she had only just moved here. Either way, Alison decided she should probably reply, she was the one who gave Emily her number after all...

'Hi, What's up? -Ali' she typed out, just keep it casual she said to herself. Honestly she had no idea why the brunette was getting to her so much, she figured it was just because it was the potential for something new in an otherwise dull town. As Alison  
got lost in her thoughts she felt her phone go off again...

'I just wanted to check that you're ok? I don't know you obviously but your friends informed me that you randomly handing your number out to basically strangers was in fact out of character for you! -E' Allison almost wanted to laugh at Emily's message  
but tried to refrain from doing so before replying...

'Aaand there's that smart mouth you told me about earlier today! You're not wrong though, I don't tend to give my number out to anyone I don't know personally! But to answer your question, I'm fine, just been a bit of an odd days thank you for asking'  
Alison replied thinking that would probably be the end of their conversation, Emily knew she was fine now, so she get up from her place on the sofa and went to grab a glass of water before heading up to bed. As she got tucked in her phone went off  
again...

'So how come I've got your number? Not that I mind, it's nice to have someone to talk to around here! -E' and that's where Ali was stumped, honestly she didn't know why she had given Emily her number, or the reason she did have didn't really make sense  
to her let alone another person. She couldn't say that to Emily though, so she just came up with the closest thing to the trust she could without sounding like too much of a weirdo..

'Because you seam different and I need to break out of my currently boring lifestyle? Haha I don't know really, you must thing I am so weird!' Alison replies, instantly regretting what she'd said, but before she could beat herself up to much, another  
reply comes through...

'Well I'll take different as a compliment, but you seem anything but boring, or weird for that matter, but what do I really know, we've barely spoken in person -E' so Emily didn't thing she was boring, that alone made Alison smile probably more than it  
should have, but Emily was also right, they're barely said two words to each other today, Alison was going to make sure that changed tomorrow.

'Yeah well, now I know that you don't think I'm a wierdo, maybe we'll be able to have an actual conversation tomorrow?' Alison felt nervous, like she had just asked her high school crush out of a date, although she's not quite sure why that comparison  
in particular came to mind. Suddenly her reply came through...

'Maybe indeed, as long as you don't go hand your number out to anymore strangers! You shouldn't be so unsure of yourself, I mean I don't know you but it doesn't take a life long friend to at least see how stunning you are... It surprises me that you don't  
ooze self confidence really! Anyway, it's late, I'll see you at work tomorrow for that conversation, night Ali -E'

Alison reread that last message at least 15 times before she went to bed that night, things were about to change, she just knew it, what she didn't know was what would change, but she looked forward to seeing what happened, and more importantly, she looked  
forward to actually talking to Emily in the morning.

The next day Alison woke up and made her way to school as usual. Today was going to be different she told herself. She still didn't know why Emily turned her into a nervous wreck, but she hoped she's figure out why the more they got to know each other.  
She didn't know when she'd see Emily today, she assumed at lunch with the rest of her friends, unlike other teachers she who went to socialise in the staff room before class, she tended to spend the beginning hour of her work day in her classroom  
ensuring that she was sorted for the days classes. So when she got settled into her desk and heard a knock at the door she was not prepared to see Emily leaning against the door frame smiling at her as she waited for permission to enter the room.

"Hi, what's up?" Alison said as she looked up from her desk smiling at Emily, who had started making her way into the classroom but stopped and glared at the blonde after what she said.

"We're not about to have a repeat of the conversation we had last night are we?" Emily asked, at first Alison was confused about what she meant, until she thought back to her first reply to Emily's texts, it had been exactly the same as what she just  
said. She laughed to herself slightly

"No, sorry, force of habit, that's my go to thing to say" Alison said looking up at Emily again, this time putting down her class notes and giving Emily her full attention. "So, what is up, are you not going to join everyone else for the mornings gossip  
of Rosewood?" This made Emily laugh as she walked further into the classroom and settled herself on one of the desks facing Alison.

"Nah, I'm not one for gossip, I was just going to head to the gym but i saw you in here so I figured we'd have that conversation before there are too many people around" Emily smiled, she obviously knew something was up with Alison from what her friends  
had told her yesterday, but she didn't want to push the issue, she barely knew the girl after all, but that doesn't mean she didn't have a strange urge to protect the blonde, so she figured their first conversation was better away from prying ears,  
even if it wasn't particularly interesting on the surface, Emily found the blonde extremely interesting. "How come you're not there? I walked past the staff room, all your friends are there?" Emily asked, hoping she wasn't pushing the blonde for information.

"I don't do gossip either really, I find the truth only comes from the person the information is about, and even then it can still be a lie..." Alison said bluntly, like she was speaking from experience, Emily caught onto this but didn't want to push  
for more information, for the time being she was happy to just be having some kind of normal conversation with Alison.

"Well maybe we should make this a thing then, I'll stop by your classroom in the Morning before class and we can talk about the truer things in life... And I don't know, maybe we'll eventually get to know each other?" Emily suggested, she was being exceptionally  
kind to Alison today, she wasn't normal like this, all smart mouth and sarcasm, but she knew if she wanted to get to know Alison, she couldn't approach it like that. Alison looked her dead in the eye, almost like she was trying to figure out  
if this was some kind of joke, Emily couldn't figure out why it was so hard for Alison to believe that maybe she just wanted to spend time with her, eventually the blonde dropped her gaze and smiled, obviously finding no sign that Emily's offer wasn't  
genuine.

"Yeah, they would be nice, although I don't know how long it would last, I'm hardly the most interesting of people" Alison said, Emily picked up on her self doubt again and decided to actually address it while she could.

"Ok firstly I think you're incredibly interesting and I don't even really know you yet, secondly, I don't know why you self doubt yourself Alison, but you shouldn't" it was quite a bold statement for Emily to make, she could tell it had thrown Alison  
off a little when she looked at her with wide eyes like she didn't know why to say. So Emily continued "how about we pick a topic that's relevant to us each time, take it in turned to chose, and just talk, get to know each other, no drama, just interesting  
conversation and who knows maybe we'll also learn a thing or two." Emily said hoping that would ease Alison from her previous statement. Thankfully it did.

"Ok, you can go first starting tomorrow?" Alison said

"Sure" Emily replied with a small smile, glad that Alison had accepted her suggestion. She looked at her watched and realised she had been chatting with Alison for nearly an hour already and she had to get ready to her class.. "Hey uh, it's nearly time  
for classes to start so I better go but I'll maybe see you at lunch?"

Alison looked down at her watch not believing time had gone that fast and looked shocked when she discovered it was indeed nearly time for classes to start. "Yeah of course, I better double check my prep anyway so yeah, I'll see you at lunch. Bye Emily"

"Bye!" Emily shouted back as she made her way out of Alison's classroom and to her own

Alison sat back down behind her desk tried to start sorting through her days prep work before her class arrived. Ultimately though she knew there was no point, she couldn't think about anything than what her conversation with Emily would be about tomorrow.  
The rest of the day went by just the same. At lunch time Alison went to join her friends and Emily who seamed to have become a member of her friends social group. It wasn't too awful, Spencer got a few quips in when no one else was listening just  
because she could...  
"So Alison, you wonna head to a bar later? I'm sure ghee are plenty of people who would like your number there"  
"Don't talk to Alison about what she likes, I'm not sure she knows anymore"  
All with a constant smirk plastered on her face as she watch Alison's interactions with Emily.

Eventually the day ended and Alison went home, settled in for the night tried to clear her mind on what tomorrow would during, because for the first time in years, she would be starting her day with no idea of what would happen.

 **So first of I am so sorry this took so long! I got I'll and then got roped into trying to beat some impossible game and writing this had to be out to the side for a few days!**

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 **Either way I hope you liked it, some proper interaction with Emily and Alison plus a little sarcastic Spencer which is still going to be a big part of this story. It's going to be good to be able to write them actually getting to know each other now plus  
emily getting to know the other girls a little too!**

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 **The next chapter might be a while, I haven't managed to start writing it yet because I just wanted to get this finished and posted, but I'm going to start writing it tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to get it done soonish and then write a few more  
chapters to make sure I stay ahead of schedule!**

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 **Review and stuff, much appreciated**

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 **Until next time**

 **NerdWrites 3**

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